Snakes and other Reptiles of Zambia and Malawi, by Darren Pietersen, Luke Verburgt and John Davies

Snakes and other Reptiles of Zambia and Malawi, by Darren Pietersen, Luke Verburgt and John Davies. Penguin Random House South Africa. Imprint: Struik Nature. Cape Town, South Africa 2021. ISBN 9781775847373 / ISBN 978-1-77-584737-3

Snakes and other Reptiles of Zambia and Malawi by Darren Pietersen, Luke Verburgt and John Davies describes every species of reptile currently known to occur in Zambia and Malawi. Newcomers to the subject may find it difficult to distinguish species within a group. With practice, however, identifying reptiles to species level can become second nature.

HOW TO USE THIS BOOK

When you spot a reptile, try to photograph it or make field notes of any morphological characteristics and behaviour that you can see: shape, size, colour and patterns, as well as location and habitat. Some features offer simple clues, such as the presence of an external shell, indicating a tortoise or terrapin. The presence of legs would suggest a lizard (not all lizards have legs, but no snakes have legs).

Identification keys
To make this book useful to both the novice and the experienced herpetologist, we provide different tiers of dichotomous identification keys based predominantly on morphological differences. There is a key at the start of the snake, lizard, chelonian and crocodile section to help you determine the genus a reptile belongs to. Keys consist of numbered pairs of choices (labelled option 'a' or 'b') that branch to either the next pair of choices, or the genus/species name. Read option 'a' and see whether your reptile matches this description. If not, proceed to 'b' and see whether it matches better. Once you determine the genus, proceed to the relevant genus account and a further key will help you to identify the particular species. After you have identified your reptile using the key, read the description in the species account and check whether it matches your reptile. If it does not, go back to the key. There was possibly a step where you were unsure of which option to choose - try the alternative option. Always bear in mind that reptiles can show variation in colour, scale arrangements and counts, and so on, though we have tried to use characters in the keys that are uniform within eacn species to minimise these instances. Look at the known and predicted distribution ol that species and compare it to where you saw your reptile. Owing to the limited data available, predicted distributions may not be entirely accurate, but they will give a good indication of which species are most likely to occur in a particular area. If the species you have identified is not known or predicted to occur where you observed it, it does not necessarily me; n that you have incorrectly identified your reptile. Even in countries that are well surveyed, geographic ran ;e extensions of species frequently occur. It may also be a human-assisted translocation.  [...]

Darren Pietersen is a herpetologist specialising in African species. He is research director at the non-profit Tikki Hywood Foundation, and a research associate in the Department of Zoology and Entomology at the University of Pretoria. South Africa.

Luke Verburgt is a zoological scientist specialising in herpetology, and has worked in 20 African countries. He is co-founder and a director of the consultancy Enviro-lnsight and extraordinary lecturer in the Department of Zoology and Entomology at the University of Pretoria, South Africa.

John Davies is a project coordinator at the Endangered Wildlife Trust, South Africa. He has spent 12 years in the tourism industry, leading tours to 15 African countries.

This is an excerpt from Snakes and other Reptiles of Zambia and Malawi, by Darren Pietersen, Luke Verburgt and John Davies.

Title: Snakes and other Reptiles of Zambia and Malawi
Author: Darren Pietersen; Luke Verburgt; John Davies
Publisher: Penguin Random House South Africa
Imprint: Struik Nature
Cape Town, South Africa 2021
ISBN 9781775847373 / ISBN 978-1-77-584737-3
Softcover, 15 x 21 cm, 376 pages, throughout colour photos and maps